fseek(3) Library Functions Manual fseek(3)
NAME
fseek, fseeko, fseek_unlocked, rewind, ftell, ftello, fgetpos, fsetpos - Reposition the file pointer of a stream
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc.so, libc.a)
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
int fseek(
FILE *stream,
long int offset,
int whence);
int fseeko(
FILE *stream,
off_t offset,
int whence);
int fseek_unlocked(
FILE *stream,
long int offset,
int whence);
void rewind(
FILE *stream);
long int ftell(
FILE *stream);
off_t ftello(
FILE *stream);
int fsetpos(
FILE *stream,
const fpos_t *position);
int fgetpos(
FILE *stream,
fpos_t *position);
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
fseek(), fgetpos(), fsetpos(), ftell(), rewind(): XSH5.0, XNS5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
PARAMETERS
Specifies the I/O stream. Determines the position of the next operation. Determines the value for the file pointer associated with the
stream parameter. Specifies the value of the file position indicator.
DESCRIPTION
The fseek() function sets the position of the next input or output operation on the I/O stream specified by the stream parameter. The posi-
tion of the next operation is determined by the offset parameter, which can be either positive or negative.
The fseek() function sets the file pointer associated with the specified stream as follows: If the whence parameter is SEEK_SET(0), the
pointer is set to the value of the offset parameter. If the whence parameter is SEEK_CUR(1), the pointer is set to its current location
plus the value of the offset parameter. If the whence parameter is SEEK_END(2), the pointer is set to the size of the file plus the value
of the offset parameter.
The fseek() function fails if attempted on a file that was not opened with the fopen() function. In particular, the fseek() function cannot
be used on a terminal or on a file opened with the popen() function.
A successful call to the fseek() function clears the End-of-File indicator for the stream and undoes any effects of the ungetc() function
on the same stream. After a call to the fseek() function, the next operation on an update stream may be either input or output.
If the stream is writable, and buffered data was not written to the underlying file, the fseek() function causes the unwritten data to be
written to the file and marks the st_ctime and st_mtime fields of the file for update.
If the most recent operation (ignoring any ftell() operations) on a given stream was fflush(), then the fseek() function causes the file
offset in the underlying open file descriptor to be adjusted to reflect the location specified by the fseek() function.
The fseek() function allows the file-position indicator to be set beyond the end of existing data in the file. If data is later written at
this point, subsequent reads of data in the gap will return bytes with the value 0 (zero) until data is actually written into the gap.
The rewind() function is equivalent to:
(void) fseek (stream, 0L, SEEK_SET)
Except that rewind() also clears the error indicator.
The ftell() function obtains the current value of the file position indicator for the specified stream.
The fgetpos() and fsetpos() functions are similar to the ftell() and fseek() functions, respectively. The fgetpos() function stores the
current value of the file position indicator for the stream pointed to by the stream parameter in the object pointed to by the position
parameter. The fsetpos function sets the file position indicator according to the value of the position parameter that was returned by a
prior call to the fgetpos() function.
A successful call to the fsetpos() function clears the EOF indicator and undoes any effects of the ungetc() function.
[Tru64 UNIX] The fseek_unlocked() function is functionally identical to the fseek() function, except that fseek_unlocked() may be safely
used only within a scope that is protected by the flockfile() and funlockfile() functions used as a pair. The caller must ensure that the
stream is locked before using these functions.
The fseeko() and ftello() functions behave identically to fseek() and ftell().
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the fseek() and fseek_unlocked() functions return a value of 0 (zero). If the fseek() or fseek_unlocked()
function fails, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
The rewind() function does not return a value. You can detect errors by first clearing errno and then calling the rewindfunction. If
errno is then nonzero, assume an error has occurred.
Upon successful completion, the ftell() function returns the offset of the current byte relative to the beginning of the file associated
with the named stream. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
Upon successful completion, the fgetpos() and fsetpos() functions return a value of 0 (zero). If the fgetpos() or fsetpos() function
fails, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The fseek() or fseek_unlocked() function fails if either the stream is unbuffered or the stream's buffer needed to be flushed and the call
to fseek() or fseek_unlocked() caused an underlying lseek() or write() function to be invoked. In addition, if any of the following condi-
tions occurs, the fseek() or fseek_unlocked( function sets errno to the value that corresponds to the condition. The O_NONBLOCK flag is
set for the file descriptor underlying the stream parameter and the process would be delayed in the write operation. The file descriptor
underlying the stream parameter is not a valid file descriptor open for writing. An attempt was made to write to a file that exceeds the
process's file size limit or the maximum file size. (See the ulimit(3) reference page.)
The file is a regular file and an attempt was made to write at or beyond the offset maximum associated with the corresponding
stream. The write operation was terminated by a signal, and either none, some, or all the data was transferred. If buffered I/O is
being used, it is recommended that you call the fflush() function before the fseek() function to guarantee that the buffer charac-
ters were written. The whence parameter is an invalid value or the resulting file offset would be invalid. A physical I/O error
has occurred or the following set of conditions has occurred: the process is a member of a background process group attempting to
write to its controlling terminal, the TOSTOP signal is set, the process is neither ignoring nor blocking SIGTTOU, and the process
group of the process is orphaned. No free space remained on the device containing the file. The file descriptor underlying stream
is associated with a pipe or FIFO.
An attempt was made to write to a pipe or FIFO that is not open for reading by any process. A SIGPIPE signal will also be sent to
the process. A request was made of a nonexistent device or the request was outside the capabilities of the device.
The rewind() function fails under the same conditions as the fseek() function, with the exception of [EINVAL], which does not apply.
If the following conditions occur, the fgetpos(), fsetpos() or ftell() function sets errno to the value that corresponds to the condition.
The file descriptor underlying the stream parameter is not a valid file descriptor. [Tru64 UNIX] The stream parameter does not point to a
valid FILE structure or the position parameter is negative. An illegal attempt was made to get or set the file position of a pipe or FIFO.
[XNS5.0] The file descriptor parameter underlying stream is associated with a socket.
RELATED INFORMATION
Functions: lseek(2), fopen(3)
Standards: standards(5) delim off
fseek(3)